Safety device for elevator wells



Nov. 13, 1923. 1,474,185

c. D. WOOD ET AL sAFETE DEVICE Eon ELEvAToE WELLS fw: A

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 13, 1923. 1,474,185

c. D. woon r-:T AL

SAFETY DEVICE FOR ELEVATOR WELLS Patented Nov. 13, 1923.

uNirE sraas PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES D. WOOD AND EDWARD R. DE LONG, F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR ELEVATOR WELLS.

Application filed March `6, 1922. Serial No. 541,578.

tor Wells, of which the following is a speci-` ication.

This invention relates to the protection against injury from` accidental falls in elevator wells andV isv intended to provide a simple device that is `capable of easy and convenient application to various types of velevators which shall protect passengers or others from injurious falls in case any person should accidentally step or fall through an open door in the well either when the car is above or below said Hoor. Y

In its essential features the invention comprises a series of flexible suspending elements hung from the upper part or top of the elevator well and extending downward to the top of the car when the car is at the bottom of the well, to which flexible Suspenders are connected at intervals a series of movable platforms or nets which nest on the top of the car as the car moves upward, but which are arranged to hang in succession below the individual floors as the car descends. The same construction is applied underneath the car to protect that portion of the well below the car. JVith the construction and arrangement embodying the at slight expense, to protect against any fall that would be injurious or harmful since the safety platforms or nets may be spaced so as to lie'practic-ally level with or slightly 40. below each floor thereby preventing a fall for any distance that would be harmful or productive of injury.

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated the preferred construction and arrangement embodying the principles of this invention in which:

Figure l is a side elevation showing so much of an elevator well as may be necessary to understand theapplication of the present inventiomthe car or elevator being shown at an intermediate position.

Figure 2 is a detail perspective view showprinciples of this invention it is possible,

ing a preferred construction of the safety platform or net.

Figures 3 and 4@ are detail views of th platform frame work. Y n

Figure 5 is a larger scale view showing the connecting lacing for interconnecting the separate portion of the net or platform.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view partly in elevation and partly in section sho-wing a means of connecting the safety platforms to the chains by which they are suspended.

Fig. 7 is a plan view on a relatively enlarged scale of a net-receiving tray ein*l ployed with the invention; and

Fig. 8 is a transverse vertical sectional view of such tray.

The drawings show the well-known construction of elevator well l, extending through the different floors 2, of the building in which is suspended or supported the movable car or elevator 3, to which access is had through the usual doors 4 on the different floors. The suspension or counter-weight cables 5, are located in their usual position and it will be understood that the device is equally applicable to acable-suspended or to a plunger-supported elevator.

In the top of the well we provide suitable anchorage members 7, comprising eye-bolts or other suitable means for supporting a plurality of iexible suspension members 8 which are preferably in the form of chains, and `are preferably located at each of the four corners of the well.V The flexible suspension elements hang from the fixed anchorage elements 7 so, as to extend to the top of the car 3 when the car is at the bottom of the well. At suitable intervals, preferably corresponding to the distance between successive floors, we connect to the suspending elements a series of Ymovable platforms `9 which arev preferably in the form of a net work having special features which readily adapt it to be applied to either the plunger or the cable type of elevator.

On the top of the car is disposed atray` 6 whose peripheral walls extend some-what beyond the planes of the vertical suspension chains 8, so that as the car ascends from 'niv the bottom of the well the different nets above it successively nest in the tray orreceptacle sothat when the car reaches the top of the well all the overhead nets nest on the top of the car. On the other hand, as the car descends, the individual nets in succession are left suspended at or below the different floor-levels until the car reaches the bottom. Obviously, no injurious fall can re4` sult from walking through any open doorway in the elevator well since immediately beneath the floor, or practically at the level thereof, is placed a platform to catch any person or body passing through any door.

A similar series of platforms or nets are suspended from thebottom of thecar to the bottom of the well by means of similar suspenders l-t connected to eye-bolts or other Aanchorage members l2, and carrying a similar series of movable platforms 9 which Yare distributed along the well beneath the car as the car rises, and nest in the bot-- vtom part of the well when the car de- "scenda y v*comprised of metal tubing which is interrupted or severed at one point to receive a connecting turn buckle 9b which may be entirely removed so as to facilitate the ap'- Hplication of each platform around the suspension cable or the plunger as the case may bek which, ofcourse, will be at the middle of the car. The interior space enclosed by the peripheral frame 9CL is preferably closed by a suitable net work 9 which,

nhowever, is formed to leave van open space in the center with a path leading from the center to the space in the frame closed by the turn buckle 9b. We may also provide at each corner a thin plate 9d to receive the coiled suspension chains to guard against entanglement with the net. Each platform is flexibly connected by short connecting members l0 with the vertical suspension` members. The plates 9d also act as separating members to keep separate the 'lengths of the suspension chains immediately above and below yeach platform so that they arenot likely to become entangled' with each other. i

For convenience the peripheral wall 6a of the net-receiving tray is hinged as at 6b to open apart toL permit its application Yaround the elevator cables, andthe peripheral wall sections are provided with inwardly projecting lugs or ledges 6b on which are locatedthe two false bottom sections 6.

lt will be readily Vperceived that complete provision is made for quickly and cheaply applying this device to different types of elevators and requires no alteration whatever in the construction of the building or of the elevator,-involving as it does merely the provision of suitable anchorage mem bers for the platform and suspenders applied, respectively, to the top and bottom of the well and to the top and bottom kof the car. Y

After the different nets have been placed in position around the central cables the turn buckle 9b is applied to the threaded nipples 90 to connect rmly the severed ends of the frame 9a and a lacing 9e or other convenient connecting means is applied to connect together the severed edges of the net through which the cables pass in assembling the Y device. y

The short flexible suspension members or chains 10, connecting each individual platform with the suspension chains 8 are used to facilitate the proper coiling of the suspension chains when the different nets are being nested above or below the car. The short suspension members not only do not interfere with the flexibility of the main suspension chain, but their weight on the chain, when the net is being nested on the top of the car or on the bottom of the well, tends to draw inwardly the main suspension chains so that they will coil over the-receiving corner plates 9d.

Vhat we claim is:

1..,The combination with an elevator well and elevator operable therein, of a safety device comprising a protective platform, a plurality of flexible suspension elements by which said platform may be suspended, said platform consisting in a rigid peripheral frame, and an interior supporting network, said frame and said network constructed `to provide an opening from the periphery of the platform to the center thereof to permit the fitting of the platform around the supporting element of vthe elevator, and means for bridging said frame and said network at the localityof said opening after the platform has been placed in position for use'in the elevator well.

2. A safety device lfor elevator wells comprising a series of spacedapart suspension members, a protective platform engaged therewith consisting in a tubular peripheral frame, and an interior network held thereby, said frame and network being severed to provide an opening fromkvthe periphery of the platform to the center thereof'to receive the supporting element of the elevator,

a turn buckle for bringing the severed por-Y tion of the frame to render the same rigid, and means for closing the severed portion of said network after the'insertion of thev sion chains suspended in the elevator well vist each being connected with the car at one tends to draw inwardly the main suspenend, a series of safety platforms and a sion chains and cause them to coil above l0 series of short suspension chains connecting the respective platforms.

the corner portion of said platform with In witness whereof, we have subscribed the main suspension chains inwardly of the the above specification.

main suspension chains, whereby the weight of said suspension chains, when the plat- CHARLES D. WOOD.

forms are being nested upon each other, EDWARD R. DE LONG. 

